PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson County commissioners approved $270,000 Monday in Conservation Futures funding for three preservation projects — Brown Dairy property in Chimacum, Quimper Wildlife Corridor in Port Townsend and Tarboo Wildlife Preserve near Dabob Bay.
The commissioners’ action makes the following allocations:
• $82,500 toward the purchase of a perpetual conservation easement on 50 acres of Brown Dairy at 9165 Rhody Drive.
• $137,500 toward the purchase of 30 lots in the Fowlers Park Addition of the city of Port Townsend in the Quimper Wildlife Corridor.
• $50,000 toward the purchase of a perpetual conservation easement of 10 acres east of Dabob Road in the Tarboo Valley north of Quilcene.
The Conservation Futures Fund advisory board of eight had unanimously recommended approving the Brown Dairy and Quimper Wildlife Corridor projects but only five voted for the Tarboo project.
Tammy Pokorny, Jefferson County’s representative overseeing the Conservation Futures Fund advisory board, said three board membersdid not support funding the Tarboo Wildlife Preserve because it was a “less impressive” project.
Peter Bahls, president of Northwest Watershed Institute, told the commissioners during a Monday public hearing on the funding proposals that he disagreed that the Tarboo preserve was not as important.
County Commissioner John Austin agreed with Bahls, saying, “I think we should not underestimate the value of those woods above the (Tarboo) Creek.”
Austin said Tarboo was just not as visible as the Brown Dairy or Quimper Wildlife Corridor.
He said preserving Quimper Wildlife was a “very positive” action for the future.
Johnson also voiced support for the Tarboo projects, saying he has hiked that area and witnessed seeing salmon return to the creek.
The Conservation Futures Fund, established by the county commissioners in 2002, is derived from a tax levy of just more than 4 cents per $1,000 of assessed property valuation and a fraction of the timber tax receipts the county receives.
Each year, the funds available to new projects varies but has been running at least $180,000 a year.
The current balance in the Conservation Futures Fund is $730,284.
The program’s purpose is to provide public open spaces for the health, welfare, benefit and safety of county residents and to improve the county’s quality of life, information from the county states.
In the past, Conservation Futures has funded Chimacum Creek Estuary, East Tarboo Creek, Finnriver Farm in Chimacum, Gateway Buffer, Glendale Farm in Chimacum, Quimper Wildlife Corridor, Sunfield Farm in Port Hadlock, Tamanowas Rock near Lake Anderson between Hadlock and Chimacum, Tarboo Creek conservation area and Winona Wetland buffer.
The program requires the participation of both an applicant landowner and a project sponsor such as Jefferson Land Trust.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
